


Night and Day

by fantasyseal



Series: Magical Boys [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Established Relationship, Kageyama is Really Dumb Sometimes, M/M, Magical Boys, memory shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-04
Updated: 2016-11-17
Packaged: 2018-08-28 23:13:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8466637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fantasyseal/pseuds/fantasyseal
Summary: Hinata Shouyou and Kageyama Tobio have been fighting monsters together for years.They still don't know each other's names.





	1. Alone

“Ready?” Yoru calls, feeling his partner burning behind him.

“Heck yeah!” Taiyo comes up next to him, grinning his head off. “Born ready,” he adds, and Yoru scowls at him.

“Don’t be so cocky,” he grumbles, and Taiyo just grins wider and zips away, calling “Hurry up!” Yoru sighs and waits, and an instant later Taiyo’s firey volleyball comes soaring toward him, and Taiyo’s zipping to his right calling “YORUUUUUU!”. He sets it up toward Taiyo, watching the fire turn blue, and Taiyo spikes it down onto the monster with a grin.

It’s their usual routine.

“See?” Taiyo calls, landing with a laugh. “Told you!”

Toru shakes his head. “One day, that isn’t going to work.”

Taiyo sticks his tongue out. “If you’d let me try it with my eyes open…”

“I’ve tried. You miss,” Yoru says flatly, and Taiyo makes a face at him.

“But Yoruuuuuu…”

“No,” Yoru says. “It’s not necessary.”

Taiyo looks disappointed, but he drops it and looks around. “Is that the last one?”

“Looks like it,” Yoru says, checking around just in case, and _tsk_ ing. “Will you _please_ stop setting things on fire with our attack?”

“It’s a flaming volleyball!” Taiyo yelps, indignant. “ _You_ try not setting anything on fire with a _giant flaming volleyball!_ ” Yoru ignores him and stomps out the fire, which fortunately isn’t very big. Taiyo’s sulking, and Yoru glances over at him.

“Stop it, and go home; you have a tournament tomorrow, right?” Taiyo nods, and then makes a face.

“It’d be nice if I could play like I do as Taiyo, though…”

Yoru shrugs. “That’d be cheating. Do you know who you’re facing yet?” he asks, and Taiyo shakes his head.

“They wouldn’t tell us,” he says, sticking out his tongue at the unspecified ‘they’.

Yoru looks thoughtfully at his partner; they’ve been fighting together for months now, protecting their area from the forces of despair (no, seriously; if the monsters have a boss, Taiyo and Yoru can’t _find_ them, and they’ve looked), but it’s more of a nighttime-superhero thing than anything else. They don’t even know each other’s names, and Yoru prefers it that way. Taiyo never complains about his toss being too fast, and in fact, he yells at Yoru if it’s too slow. They kill bad guys together, and then they go their separate ways; it’s sort of relaxing, not that Yoru would admit that in a million years.

He doesn’t know where Taiyo lives, either, but Taiyo’s complained about his long bike ride before, so it’s probably not the _same_ tournament tomorrow, so…

“Good luck,” Yoru says, and Taiyo lights up before settling into a suspicious glare.

“Are you sick? You’re _never_ nice…”

“Shut up,” he says, already regretting it, and Taiyo laughs and takes off, his fluffy orange hair that shades into glowing white at the ends visible long after the rest of him leaves. Yoru watches him go, then lets his own magical transformation fall off him; his hair goes from blue to black, and his stupid sparkly orange-and-black uniform fades into his uniform.

Kageyama Tobio turns away and walks home, wondering how much sleep he can get before the tournament tomorrow.

 

He recognizes the hair instantly, even if it is just plain orange now, and shoos away his teammates who are _supposed_ to be warming up and not mocking their opponents.

He can’t say it. There is no way the pathetically trembling kid in front of him is _his_ fearless Taiyo; he’s clutching his stomach and not even standing straight, and he shrinks back when Kageyama flicks a glance in his direction.

Nope, not Taiyo, Taiyo would have told them off himself and not needed Kageyama’s rescue.

 _How do you know?_ a traitorous voice in his head whispers. _You’ve only ever seen him fighting with you. You have no idea how he reacts to anyone else._

Look for the pin, Kageyama orders himself, but the kid is in his uniform proclaiming YUKIGAOKA MIDDLE SCHOOL, and of course he wouldn’t have it even if he was Taiyo; Kageyama doesn’t have it either. Does Taiyo’s transformation item even look the same as his? He’s never asked.

So he settles for an annoyed stare at the kid before turning and leaving, but then he hears Taiyo’s indignant “ _What did you say?”_ and damn it, that _is_ him, there’s no mistaking his voice.

“You guys,” Kageyama says, letting his annoyance bleed into his tone. “You’re not even on the bench. Do you really think you’re good enough to look down on your opponents?” They freeze, and Kageyama turns his glare on them. “Don’t ride your school’s coattails,” he says, finishing in a half-growl, and at least that gets rid of them. Idiots.

“I—I was going to tell them off, too!” Is this really the boy he’s been fighting with since middle school? Taiyo’s never stuttered, never needed to throw up or whatever this kid’s problem is before a fight. He always shows up smiling and ready to spike Kageyama’s toss. This… _person_ isn’t worthy of Taiyo, and Kageyama decides he was wrong.

“You’re not even ready to play. Don’t talk big,” he says, keeping his voice as flat as possible. “That’s why they’re looking down on you.”

The kid stares up at him. “What did you say?”

Kageyama ignores his increasingly strong resemblance to his partner and continues. “What are you even doing here? Making memories?” That came out more mocking than he intended, and the kid’s eyes narrow. (Though, he’s not exactly sure how he meant it. This kid is _annoying._ )

“I came here to win. That’s all.”

Kageyama thinks of scorching balls fired off his fingertips to Taiyo’s gleeful leaps, of long hours practicing and longer nights fighting, and walks close enough that he towers over the shorter boy.

(Taiyo’s shorter than he is, too.)

(Then again, a lot of people are shorter than Kageyama.)

“You make it sound so easy,” he says, scowling down, and the kid meets his eyes.

“Sure, I’m not tall,” he says, and then stands up straight to get in Kageyama’s face as much as he can. “But I can jump! You can’t just assume we’ll lose, as long as we don’t give up…”

That’s exactly what Taiyo says, and Kageyama swings around so he doesn’t have to look at this pitiful kid who’s too much like Taiyo anymore. “‘Don’t give up’? That’s not as easy as it sounds.”

“The six of us…we can finally play volleyball on the court,” comes the voice from behind him.

_Taiyo’s never been in a tournament before._

“The first game, the second…we’re going to win! We’re going to give it our all!”

_Give it everything you have, Yoru; this one’s a pain!_

This is _not_ Taiyo, it’s _not,_ Kageyama thinks, gripping his pin in his pocket so tightly it digs into his palm, and swings around to face this idiotic, naïve _child._ “The first game, second game, playoffs, nationals,” he lists off, meeting the kid’s eyes. “ _I’m_ going to win them all.”

He swings around and leaves so he won’t have to talk to the kid who’s _not_ his partner anymore, telling himself he’ll see Taiyo tonight, and Taiyo will tell him all about his tournament, and it will absolutely not involve anyone named Kageyama Tobio.

It gets easier to pretend that the Yukigaoka captain isn’t Taiyo when the game starts and Kitagawa Daiichi is shutting them out almost completely, at least until Kageyama remembers Taiyo’s quiet wish to play like he was Taiyo all the time.

That would sort of imply that Taiyo’s civilian form sucks at volleyball, right? he wonders, distractedly setting a volleyball too fast and shouting at the spiker for missing it. He misses Taiyo’s familiar warmth behind him, Taiyo’s smile, Taiyo’s laugh as he teases Kageyama between monster battles. Taiyo’s fast; Taiyo never misses his sets.

Yukigaoka does get a few points in, and Kageyama’s nearly at the end of his limited patience when they’re at the match point.

The Yukigaoka captain spikes a point right out of the court around Kageyama’s belated block, and promptly lands wrong and tumbles across the court, through the barrier. It’s out; they win, and Kageyama’s so preoccupied with the fact that this kid _could_ have been good that he isn’t lining up.

_Taiyo’s been practicing with me for years. He can’t be this crappy._

_Except, it’s mostly not his fault, is it? His team’s obviously a bunch of novices._

No, Kageyama thinks, this can’t be Taiyo, but it pisses him off to see so much wasted potential.

He stomps up to the net, glares through it at the orange-haired not-Taiyo. “What were you doing the last three years?” he asks. He _really_ only means it as ‘you’re good, and I don’t understand why you lost so badly’, but it comes out wrong. The kid’s fists clench, and his teammate is yelling at Kageyama, who tunes it out.

That isn’t Taiyo, because Taiyo would have hit back, not stood there shaking and crying, and Taiyo _definitely_ wouldn’t challenge him again later through tears.

But then Taiyo doesn’t come, that night or the next, and it gets harder to think that he hasn’t pissed off his best friend. The feeling gets worse when _it_ happens, and Kageyama spends his nights throwing shadowy balls at monsters, ignoring how much longer it takes to defeat them without Taiyo by his side, ignoring the ache every time he’s cornered and no explosion of fire comes to save his ass.

He’d never realized magical boys could fight despair outwardly so well when it was with them every waking moment (and a few of his sleeping ones).

Taiyo doesn’t come back, and on his graduation day, Kageyama looks up and wonders where he is. _Hinata? That was the Yukigaoka captain’s name, wasn’t it? Did you graduate today, too?_

 

“What are _you_ doing here?”

Kageyama forgets how to breathe, forgets to finish his serve, forgets everything except that voice. He freezes in place, almost doesn’t feel the ball drop onto his head. _Taiyo._

There he is, just as frozen as Kageyama, pointing at him in utter disbelief. Kageyama knows he looks like hell; he hasn’t had a night’s sleep in months, not between final exams, high school entrance exams, and all the extra hours he puts in to keep the town safe.

 _How could I have ever thought that wasn’t you,_ he wonders, watching the boy in front of him. It’s obvious, now, that Taiyo is Hinata Shouyou, who’s got his hands balled into fists.

Apparently if he won’t say anything, Taiyo will, because he barks out, “You probably don’t remember the team you beat in the first match…”

“I remember you very well.” _How could I not?_

Taiyo’s eyes flick to his transformation item; just a little golden pin, stuck onto his shirt in case he needs it, and then snaps out, “Why do you have that?”

“…Huh?” Kageyama says. Has Taiyo not figured out who he is? Their voices are the same, powered-up or civilian; he’d assumed that was why Taiyo had stopped coming.

 _Hinata,_ he reminds himself, as Taiyo fishes around in his pocket and holds out his own pin.

“What is it?” he asks Kageyama, and Kageyama’s heart plummets straight through his feet. “I feel like it’s important, but I can’t remember why…” He stops, frowns, shakes his head. “Wait, that’s not important! Why are you _here?_ ”

Kageyama thinks his heart has literally fallen through the floor; it seems to have stopped beating.

Taiyo doesn’t know what his pin is; he’s just turning it over in his hand absently.

Kageyama has completely and irreversibly fucked up his life.

“Excuse me,” Kageyama says, ignoring Tai-Hinata’s yells at him to _come back here right now, I’m not finished,_ turning on his heel, and running out the other door. He will _not_ lose his composure in front of a perfect stranger, and particularly not in front of this one.

He’s stuck fighting alone forever now, not just on the court but off it too. Taiyo’s gone, and he’s left a tiny, incompetent first-year in his place who only knows Kageyama from that one match; Kageyama doubts he remembers a lot of that, but he obviously remembers Kageyama’s behavior toward him; he probably came to Karasuno specifically to defeat Kageyama.

Kageyama tells himself that in five minutes, he’ll be fine. In five minutes, he’ll get back up, go inside, and try to be civil to Hinata Shouyou. He needs five minutes to pull himself together and accept that Taiyo isn’t here, that he was such an ass to Taiyo he chose to stop being a magical boy, that Taiyo is _gone._ There’s just Hinata, now. Just the kid who _completely and totally hates him._

…Though, he supposes Taiyo must have hated him too. They were warned when they took on this job, at least Kageyama was; it’s voluntary enough, but stopping leaves a hole in your heart. There’s no way to avoid it; being a magical boy generates so many memories that it’s impossible to forget it without a scar, and if you choose to leave instead of aging out, you always forget.

Kageyama clenches his hand around his pin and tries to forget his new teammate standing in the gym. _I can’t be mad at him. It isn’t his fault._

He lets go of his pin and walks back into the gym, and still isn’t exactly sure how they wound up tossed out on their asses and stuck playing together. He’s trying, he is, but even just hearing Hinata’s annoying voice is another reminder that Taiyo’s gone, and Kageyama doesn’t have it in him to be _nice._ The thought of an entire game with him sets Kageyama’s nerves on edge.

Their morning and evening practices go decently in spite of that; his receiving and serving are awful, and he keeps demanding that Kageyama toss for him, and Kageyama keeps refusing.

“I don’t think you’re essential to winning right now,” he snaps, ignoring the hurt look on Hinata’s face. _Sorry, Hinata._ He’s thinking that a lot, lately.

He nearly breaks down again when Hinata jumps high enough to steal the ball from Tsukishima and lands in exactly the same position Taiyo used to, but Hinata doesn’t notice.

He stops wearing his pin on his shirt. Hinata’s is usually in his pocket; whenever he finds it pinned inside his shorts, he takes it out, stares at it in befuddled confusion, and then shrugs and goes back to whatever he was doing. He’s always careful to re-pin it so it can’t fall out, Kageyama notices.

“Are you all right?” Sugawara asks him one morning, when he’s so tired from fighting last night he can hardly stand. He hadn’t slept at _all;_ he’d just spent all night as Yoru and come straight to Karasuno, being careful to lose his transformation a decent way out from the school.

“I have a night job,” Kageyama responds, rubbing the sand out of his eyes and telling himself that he _technically_ isn’t lying to the team’s vice-captain, “and my coworker quit recently.” Months ago. Recently. Same thing, right?

Suga’s eyes soften. “Go sleep,” he tells Kageyama. “Tanaka and I will work with Hinata.” Kageyama would usually argue, but he is _exhausted,_ and he falls asleep until Sugawara wakes him up and tells him it’s time for classes.

That afternoon, he gives Hinata a toss, sees Hinata’s eyes light up, sees him move his exhausted muscles to spike it, and feels like he might be sick.

Game day arrives; Hinata’s excited, Tanaka’s…Tanaka, and Kageyama mostly just wants to get it over with.

Hinata defends him from Tsukishima’s taunts, and Kageyama thinks he might honestly _die,_ he misses Taiyo so much, when Hinata says “You toss to me fine”.

“We’ll win, we’ll be official club members, you’ll play setter, and you’ll toss to me,” Hinata says, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “What else is there?”

Kageyama’s forgotten how to breathe again. _You don’t remember, it’s not your fault, but there’s so much more. You used to toss around fireballs like it was nothing._ Outwardly, he doesn’t say anything; he doesn’t trust his voice. He’s so tired, tired of fighting without Taiyo, tired of teaching Hinata, tired of having to act normal when all he wants to do is shake Hinata until his memories come back.

 _Who do I toss it to?_ he thinks, hearing his two spikers call for the ball. _Hinata still can’t beat Tsukishima…_

“KAGEYAMA!”

_“Yoru!”_

“I’M HERE!” Hinata yells, already jumping, trusting Kageyama.

“ _YORUUUUUU!”_

Kageyama sends the toss to Hinata, who gives it a pitiful bat that barely makes it over, but it _is_ a point, damn it. Not a superheated final attack against despair monsters. Just a point.

…Okay, so it’s out, but it’s a point in _spirit,_ and then Hinata gives him an entire fucking monologue about how he’ll jump anywhere, so _send him the ball,_ and Kageyama’s heart feels incredibly light and incredibly heavy at the same time.

 _I don’t deserve your trust,_ he thinks, looking at the tiny orange spiker in front of him, _but I’m glad I have it._

“Hey! You guys know how to do quicks?” Tanaka asks, and there’s another stab for Kageyama, who really wants this game to be over, one way or the other, so he can stop having to be on the same court as Hinata. Of _course_ they know how to do quicks; his attack with Taiyo was a quick. He set it as fast as he can, or he got scolded for not doing it _fast enough, faster next time, Yoru! I can run faster than that!_

“…Quicks?” Hinata asks, and Tanaka explains, and Hinata shakes his head. “Not at all!”

 _Yes you have,_ Kageyama thinks, _you’ve just forgotten._ Does muscle memory carry over more than real memories? They’ve done that attack a thousand million times together; it isn’t surprising that Hinata knows what to do, sort of.

Kageyama has to snap again to hide his _this isn’t Taiyo and I am a horrible asshole of a person_ mood, and Tsukishima’s King comment doesn’t help. Neither does Hinata’s annoyed “I’ll spike it past you!”; that’s just _like_ Taiyo, that cocky attitude that Kageyama used to scold him for.

And then Tsukishima starts trash-talking _his spiker’s_ height, and Kageyama stomps up beside Hinata and says, not bothering to hide his anger, “Breaking the wall in front of the spiker is the _setter’s_ job,” before dragging Hinata off and giving his best explanation of a quick (Tanaka disagrees with his idea of a good explanation, but he knows Hinata will understand).

They chorus their “We’ll do it anyway” to Tanaka, who calls him an introverted brat, which Kageyama begs to disagree with (it is _damned_ difficult to act normal when you’re working with your best friend and partner of multiple years who hates your guts and doesn’t remember you, okay, and also Tsukishima is an asshole, and _also…_ there’s just a lot of factors involved).

Kageyama sees a flash of orange running up on his right, sets the toss, and Hinata swings and misses and stares after the ball like he has _no idea_ what went wrong.

It takes Sugawara to remind Kageyama _why_ he could do such a fast toss with Taiyo, and he makes up some (technically true) speech about Hinata wasting his potential (in his defense, it honestly _is_ infuriating that Hinata is so utterly lousy at volleyball).

“Go as fast as you can, and jump as high as you can,” Kageyama says, pointing at Hinata. “Then spike as hard as you can. I’ll bring the ball to you; you don’t have to watch my toss.”

“Ehh?” Hinata looks confused. “But if I don’t see the ball, I’ll spike at air…”

“Maybe so,” Kageyama says, ignoring Hinata’s “Hey!” _I know you can do this._ “But I want to try this.”

 _Where’s the ball? Where’re the blockers? Where’s the spiker?_ That last one is easy, at least; there’s Hinata, jumping with his eyes closed, just like Kageyama knew he would, and he sends his fastest toss and hears it slam down on the other side of the net.

Hinata lands, the court is dead silent for a moment, and then he gasps “ _Ow…”,_ clutching his shorts.

Kageyama’s hand flies to his pocket at the same moment, feeling the pin burning his leg. _What…oh._

_Oh._

A column of fire engulfs Hinata; shadow envelops Kageyama, and when it clears (Sugawara’s running around frantically trying to find the fire extinguisher) it’s Taiyo standing in front of him, and Kageyama yanks a piece of hair down in front of his eyes to confirm that he’s Yoru again.

The rest of the team has gone completely quiet, and it occurs to Kageyama that they’ve just transformed in front of their entire club.

Then it occurs to him that he doesn’t actually care all that much.

Hinata stares at him for an instant before a smile spreads across his face, then a frown, then back to a smile. “ _Oh…_ ”

“ _Taiyo,”_ Kageyama says, not sure he believes it, and Hinata stands there, stunned into stillness ( _for once,_ the part of him that’s been putting up with Hinata for the last week whispers).

Kageyama picks up the volleyball and throws it at Hinata’s head as hard as he can (Hinata ducks).

“Uh,” Daichi says, looking like he’s deciding whether or not he should intervene again, and then Hinata _laughs._

“You _asshole,_ ” Kageyama growls at him. “You left me by myself for _months._ Did you actually plan this?”

“I just broke the connection!” Hinata says, sounding indignant. “I didn’t realize that breaking the connection between partners also busts the magical one, and then I forgot…and you were so _mean!_ ” he adds. “I was gonna break off and go solo, but it didn’t work…”

“I didn’t know you were…I mean…” Kageyama sputters, and then, “ _I’m going to kill you.”_

“You wouldn’t,” Hinata says, smirking, and Kageyama already misses his amnesia. “Seriously, though, that _sucked so much,_ I don’t wanna do it again _ever._ ” He sticks his tongue out. “I don’t believe you didn’t even _try_ to fix it…”

“What was I supposed to do?” Kageyama says. “We were told that once they’re gone…and you didn’t even remember me!”

“I did _too,_ ” Hinata huffs at him, “just not as _Yoru._ I remember the jerk setter I played against just _fine…_ ”

“I’m gonna send all the tosses to Tanaka-san for the rest of the match,” Kageyama threatens him, “and so help me if you _ever_ pull this shit again…”

“I won’t!” Hinata says. “It’s not like I was trying to do it in the first place…”

“Dumbass,” Kageyama says.

“Idiot,” Hinata responds, grinning so widely Kageyama thinks his face might break in half.

“…Should we just call off the game?” Daichi asks Sugawara. “I think they’ve proven they can play together.”

“ _NO,”_ comes the chorus from the other side of the net; Hinata, Kageyama, and Tanaka all at once. Hinata turns red, but Tanaka keeps going. “We’ve gotta beat Tsukishima!"

“I think your teammates are busy,” Suga says lightly.

“No,” Kageyama says, letting his form as Yoru go. “It’ll wait. Sorry, Daichi-san.”

“Tonight?” Hinata asks, dropping his Taiyo costume.

“Tonight,” Kageyama says, ignoring Tsukishima’s gagging noises.

“When you two are ready,” Daichi says, getting into position on the other side of the net, “I’m going to need some help understanding that.”

“Me too,” Tanaka says, stepping up to serve, “but for now, just keep spiking like that and distracting Tsukishima, and we’ll win for sure!”

“Don’t be so cocky!” Daichi calls from across the net.

Tsukishima never stood a chance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a) the longest one-shot I've EVER written and b) the most self-indulgent thing I've ever written, so if you read all the way to the end, THANK YOU! :D  
> This basically happened because I've been trying to write a magical-boys version of Haikyuu for a while and then my brain went "so what if", and also I have a test tomorrow and I wrote this instead of studying, whoops. Enjoy!


	2. It's Tonight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taiyo's back, and everything's okay. Mostly.  
> Kagehina Magical Boys Part II because everyone wants more of this for some reason??

There’s a monster outside his house.

A monster, and a bright orange glowing magical boy fighting it.

The magical boy’s getting pushed back; he’s nearly backed against the wall now, and the monster just keeps approaching, apparently unimpressed.

Kageyama Tobio races downstairs with a baseball bat (from his parents’ very brief effort to get him into baseball before he discovered volleyball) gripped tightly, and sneaks out the door. He doesn’t have a coherent plan, really; his plan is ‘hit the monster and get it away from his house and possibly ask the glowing person what the hell he’s doing’.

He slips his shoes on and steps outside; the magical boy’s back is to the wall, and he’s throwing desperate punches marked with bursts of flames. He definitely needs help, so Kageyama readjusts his grip and sneaks forward.

**_That won’t work._ **

_Says who?_ Kageyama thinks, not bothering to question why he’s hearing a voice. There’s already a flaming magical boy attacking a smoke monster outside his house; reality seems to have gone out for a late dinner somewhere.

**_Baseball bats won’t stop a monster._ **

_So what will,_ Kageyama snaps, watching; the boy looks exhausted, he needs to shut this voice up and fast or the battle’s already lost. _Quit being so cryptic and just tell me._

**_Magic,_** the voice says.

_That’s ridiculous._

**_As opposed to trying to fight someone’s nightmare with a baseball bat?_** The voice definitely has a sarcastic edge to it now, and Kageyama scowls.

**_I can help,_** the voice offers. **_You can stop it from getting to your house. Save the day._**

_Why should I trust you?_ Kageyama thinks. _Who are you, Kyuubey?_

**_No._** The voice actually sounds offended. **_It doesn’t work like that. There are monsters, and heroes are needed to handle them. That’s all._**

_What if I change my mind?_

**_You’ll forget,_** the voice says. **_Forget anything involving magic, including your teammate or teammates._**

The other boy kicks out, but he must be tired, because there’s only smoke now, not fire, and the voice takes on an urgent tone. **_Help Taiyo. Please._**

_Fine,_ Kageyama thinks, watching the boy slump toward the ground. He can’t just sit here and let this whatever-it-is take over his house. _Deal._

**_Thank you,_** and Kageyama looks down and decides he’s going to find whoever the voice belongs to and _murder them_ later, because now he’s in a sparkly volleyball uniform and stupid heeled shoes. _Sparkly._ If his team sees him in this he will literally never be allowed within a mile of the court again.

So he pretends the monster in front of him is the voice and charges it, punching it hard enough to knock it over (these things are apparently much lighter than they look). The orange-haired boy, Taiyo, is obviously exhausted, but he lights up when he spots Kageyama.

“You’re one too!” he calls, lifting one hand to wave. “That’s _so cool!_ ”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Kageyama says, blinking at him; the kid’s face changes to confusion before he gets an _oh_ expression.

“Oh, you just started, didn’t you…okay, never mind, I’ll explain later, help me?” he asks, pointing at the monster.

“What do I do?” Kageyama asks, and Taiyo shrugs.

“Punch it till it goes away,” he says, and reaches one hand. “Help me up?”

_Screw it,_ Kageyama thinks, and pulls Taiyo up and runs, arms behind him, like he does for a spike in volleyball, and punches the monster again. Taiyo launches himself in the air; Kageyama has a moment to think _how goddamn high can he jump_ before he comes down hard on the monster.

It fades into smoke, and Taiyo sits down heavily. “Thanks,” he says, looking up at Kageyama. “I’m kinda…there’s a lot out tonight.” He’s panting, Kageyama notices.

“Do you do this every night?” Kageyama asks, and the kid shakes his head.

“There’s another one who takes the nights I don’t,” he says, flopping down on his back and pillowing his head on his arms. “West. Never met him, though. What’s your name?” he adds, looking at Kageyama.

Kageyama opens his mouth to answer, and Taiyo says quickly “Not your real one! There’s rules.”

Well, okay, if they’re going to be all unnecessarily cryptic about this. Kageyama thinks _what’s a good fake name?_ This loudmouth orange kid is Taiyo, so… “I’m Yoru,” he says, extending his hand.

Taiyo grabs his hand and shakes it _way_ harder than he needs to, grinning at him. “I’m Taiyo!”

After that night, Kageyama finds himself out with Taiyo more and more.

One day Taiyo realizes that he can create flaming volleyballs, Kageyama realizes that he can set them without also setting himself on fire or burning his fingers (mostly because Taiyo accidentally throws one at him), and their job gets a _lot_ easier.

“West has a partner,” Taiyo reports a few weeks after Kageyama starts meeting him. “The voice says so. His name’s East.”

Kageyama just grunts in acknowledgment and sets another ball for Taiyo.

They don’t talk much about anything beyond the occasional insult and call for the other person to duck, but Kageyama learns more about his partner anyway.

His partner’s the only one in his school volleyball club. He loves climbing trees, as high as he can, to watch the stars. He lets out a whoop _every single time_ they get their attack right. He jumps like he thinks he can reach the moon.

He grabs Kageyama’s hand when he thinks Kageyama feels worried and watches him with his big brown puppy-eyes and demands to know what’s wrong and threatens to throw fireballs at him if he doesn’t tell the truth.

They fall into an easy routine, an uncomplicated friendship; trade insults, punch monsters, and then go their separate ways for the night.

 

Kageyama’s been out by himself for so long that he’s startled when he spots Taiyo.

He’s sitting in the same spot where they’ve met up for years, already transformed, stupid glowing hair that Kageyama always complains about (it attracts monsters) and all, and lifts a hand when he sees Kageyama.

“You’re so quiet,” he complains. “Are you _sure_ one of your powers isn’t melting into shadows?”

“Just because I don’t glow stupidly bright and attract monsters,” Kageyama retorts, like always, and Taiyo laughs and punches him, like always.

It’s the way things should be, their normal routine, and Kageyama’s still trying to figure out why it doesn’t feel normal when Taiyo’s head snaps up.

Kageyama knows that look, and sure enough, a second later Taiyo yells “Duck!” and shoots a fireball where Kageyama’s head was two seconds ago, knocking down a monster.

“More warning, next time?” Kageyama asks, moving out of Taiyo’s line of fire. “What if you’d killed me?”

“Never have yet,” Taiyo replies, shooting another fireball. “Anyway, if you wouldn’t be in my way so much it wouldn’t happen…are you going to help me?”

“Sorry,” Kageyama mutters, shaking off the little voice chanting _something’s wrong something’s wrong_ and getting into position for their attack. Taiyo just rolls his eyes and throws Yoru his firey volleyball (totally different from a fireball); Yoru sets it and watches Taiyo slam it down.

Just like always.

“Sheesh,” Taiyo huffs, landing and stomping out the fire. “What is _wrong_ with you today?”

“Nothing’s wrong,” Kageyama says automatically, like that’s ever worked, and sure enough, Taiyo just folds his arms and stares at him, his _stop being such an idiot_ stare.

“Duck,” Kageyama says, barely waiting for Taiyo’s head to drop before firing his own magic at the monster behind him (what exactly _is_ it with monsters and showing up behind them tonight?). Taiyo doesn’t wait; he kicks out, catching the monster with his heel and knocking it against a tree before tossing Kageyama another volleyball.

Track Taiyo, track the ball, set the ball, watch the ball turn blue as it leaves his hands and flies back to Taiyo, watch Taiyo spike it down on the unfortunate monster, watch Taiyo hop around like a lunatic trying to put out the resulting fire.

He finally stomps it all out and turns back to Kageyama and fixes him with the _stop being such an idiot_ stare again.

“What,” Kageyama says, folding his arms.

“Something’s wrong,” Taiyo says, folding his too and scowling.

“Nothing’s wrong,” Kageyama repeats. “Come on, we need to start patrolling.”

Taiyo’s in front of him before he knows what’s happening, blocking him. “ _Yoru,_ ” he says, in a scolding voice he probably picked up from Daichi, “We’ve had _two_ monsters come straight to us, which _never_ happens, both your tosses were off…” Kageyama opens his mouth to protest, and Taiyo talks right over him, “…and you usually notice monsters way before I do! And there was one _right behind you_ for like, thirty whole seconds!”

Somehow, he always forgets how much Taiyo can _talk,_ even when he’s been stuck with Hinata Shouyou and his incessant babbling for the last week. Taiyo appears to have run out of words, now; he’s just got his lip stuck out in a pout waiting for Kageyama to reply.

Kageyama looks at Taiyo and thinks about climbing up trees after him to make sure his stupid hair wouldn’t set anything on fire, the time he discovered Taiyo’s balance is _far_ better than his own (to his eternal irritation), Taiyo’s starry-eyed face when he’d told Kageyama that he was going to a _real tournament._

Hinata demanding to know why Kageyama has a pin, too; Hinata bringing out his pin and asking what it is, why it feels so important.

…Okay, so maybe he still can’t believe Taiyo’s really back.

“It’s just weird,” Kageyama mumbles. “Having you here.”

Taiyo’s hand slips into his and squeezes. “I’m back now.” His voice is the steady tone Kageyama’s learned to recognize as _someone else is scared, so I can’t be._

_“What are you doing out here?”_

_Taiyo swats Yoru. “Behave!” he scolds, and then bends down to be on the little kid’s level and gives him a wide, bright smile. “You okay?”_

_“Mmhmm,” the little kid says, sniffing. “Who’re you?”_

_“My name’s Taiyo,” Taiyo says, offering the kid a hand._

_“You’re dressed like a weirdo,” the kid says, scowling at Taiyo’s hand; Kageyama fights down the urge to laugh._

_Taiyo looks mildly offended, and then he does laugh. “I’m a superhero!” he says, grinning. “I protect people. Getting a cool costume’s part of the job.”_

_“That’s not cool.”_

_“He’s right,” Kageyama says._

_“Oh, like_ you _can talk,” Taiyo retorts, and then drops right back into cheerful-friendly mode. “Are you lost? Can we take you home?” he asks._

_The kid pouts and looks down. “I’m only a little bit lost,” he mutters, but he does take Taiyo’s hand (finally). Taiyo smiles again and stands up._

_“What’s your name?” he asks. “Or do you know who you’re staying with?”_

_“My name’s Oikawa Takeru.” Kageyama makes a choked-off noise; Taiyo glances back to check that he’s not dying._

_“Do you know where he lives?” he asks. Kageyama just nods, and Taiyo gives him a thumbs-up. “Great! Show me.”_

_It’s not that far a walk, really; Takeru had mostly been going in circles. He’s falling asleep, so Taiyo boosts him up and carries him piggyback for the last part._

_“Are we almost there, Yoru?” Taiyo asks, shifting Takeru. “He’s kind of heavy…”_

_“That’s the house,” Kageyama says, pointing. “Wake him up, will you?”_

_Taiyo snorts. “I think I’m just gonna put him down and knock and leave. Look, all the lights are on, they must have noticed that he isn’t in his room.”_

_Taiyo’s right; the lights are on, and Kageyama can hear shouting from inside the house, but it doesn’t look like they’ve called the police yet. He hangs back, ignoring the questioning look Taiyo gives him, and lets Taiyo ease Takeru off his back and deposit him at the front door, knocking as loudly as he can and dashing back to Kageyama._

_The door opens; someone looks down and scoops up Takeru and shuts the door behind them, and Taiyo breathes a quiet sigh of relief. “You’re sure that’s his family?”_

_“That was one of my teammates,” Kageyama says. “He’s got a nephew that he literally never shuts up about. Either that was his nephew or he’ll find whoever that kid actually belongs to.”_

_Taiyo laughs. “Let’s get back to patrolling, then,” he suggests. “Before we get overrun.”_

_“When has that ever happened?” But Kageyama follows Taiyo’s enthusiastic run back to their informal patrol route anyway, keeping Taiyo’s stupid glowing hair in sight as best he can._

Yoru’s staring off into space, and Hinata huffs and waves a hand in front of his face. “Yoruuuu…” he says. “Come on, talk to me!”

 “Sorry,” Yoru mumbles, and again Hinata’s struck by the weird feeling of Yoru and Kageyama being the same person. He’d known, of course, but it’s still odd to look at his oldest friend and reconcile him with the angry jerk of a setter he’d met at the tournament.

“Can you do this?” he asks.

“ _Yes,_ ” Yoru says, scowling down at him. “Shut up.” (Okay, so it’s not _that_ difficult to believe they’re the same person.)

“It isn’t just you, yknow,” Hinata says. “This is weird for me too.”

_Weird_ is kind of an understatement; Hinata had realized who Kageyama was as soon as they’d met, and before he’d gotten the chance to actually _say_ anything, Kageyama had snapped at him, he’d snapped back, and they were fighting. Really, actually fighting, not bantering; he’d seen the disbelief in Kageyama’s eyes and realized that Kageyama knows who he is, too.

And he’s still treating Hinata like Hinata’s _obviously_ inferior to him.

Hinata had gotten Izumi and Koji to look after the first-years and gone to the bathroom after their match, turning his pin over in his hand.

_He doesn’t need me._

_Fine. I don’t need him._

“I don’t need him,” Hinata says to the pin. “I don’t want to fight with him.” He knows it’s the intent that matters, with this, and he clings as hard as he can to _I don’t want to fight with Yoru anymore._

He wakes up with a gold pin clutched in his hand, digging into his palm, an irrational sense of loss, and a firm belief that Kageyama Tobio is the reason for everything wrong with his life.

His heart aches every time he sees the pin; Izumi and Koji think he’s lost his mind when he asks them why it’s so important, why he can’t stand to look at it, why he goes on a frantic search for it every time he can’t find it immediately.

And then, months later, leaping through the gym door at Karasuno, seeing Kageyama about to hit a jump serve, and freezing up. He sees Kageyama’s hair flashing blue under the lights and has to fight down the feeling that he’s come _home,_ that this is where he belongs, but he tells himself it’s just because he’s finally at Karasuno and remembers to be angry with Kageyama for being here at Karasuno an instant later, _how dare he._

And then he spots Kageyama’s pin, and demands to know why he has one too, and sees confusion and hurt flashing across Kageyama’s face; another instant, and his face is a perfect neutral expression, and he walks away with a quiet “Excuse me”.

“Come back here!” Hinata yells after his retreating back. “Come _back here, I’m not done!_ ”

Something tells him, when he jumps for Kageyama’s toss in the three-on-three, that Kageyama needs to hear he isn’t leaving, that he’ll always be there when Kageyama sets, so he says so. As loudly and clearly as possible, because Kageyama is _dumb,_ he’s learning, and Kageyama won’t understand unless he says exactly what he means.

And then he spikes down the ball, and it feels warm under his hand, and Hinata’s memories come back in a rush that completely blindsides him; meeting Yoru, taking Takeru back, the first day they figured out their attack together…

His fire is around him before he has time to process it, and he looks up and sees Yoru and breathes “ _Oh…”_

 

“I missed you,” Hinata says, back in the present, squeezing Yoru’s hand.

“You didn’t know who I was.” It’s not accusatory, just a fact, but Hinata winces anyway.

“Still missed you,” he says lightly, leaning on Yoru.

“You’re going to set my uniform on fire,” Yoru mutters.

Hinata lets his form as Taiyo drop in response, and then he’s just Hinata Shouyou. It’s a lot darker, suddenly; he always forgets about how much better his vision is as Taiyo. He’s shorter now, too; Yoru still has his heeled shoes on, and he gives a complaining grumble and stands on his tiptoes. “There.”

“What are you going to do if another monster comes?” Yoru asks.

“Let you deal with it,” Hinata says, smirking up at the vaguely-Yoru-shaped patch of darkness next to him. That earns him a head cuff that he dodges, grinning. “Too slow!”

“What are you, five?” Yoru asks. “Quit moving around, I know you can’t see…”

“I can see fiiiii…” he trails off as his foot catches a tree root and he falls over. The moon’s not out tonight, and even with the starlight, it’s kind of dark, and okay yeah Hinata can’t see a thing. “Ow.”

The Yoru-shaped dark patch moves over to him and offers a hand. “Think about what you’re doing, dumbass. What if you twisted your ankle and couldn’t play?” That is actually a fairly horrifying thought, so Hinata turns back into Taiyo and sighs in relief when the Yoru-shaped dark patch resolves into Yoru, giving him his familiar irritated _stop being so dumb_ face.

“I’m here,” Hinata says quietly, getting up and smiling at Kageyama. “And I’m not going away ever again. So let’s go.” He laces his fingers through Kageyama’s again before Kageyama can protest and tugs him toward their patrol route.

Their relationship’s gotten a little more complicated, maybe, Hinata thinks, pulling Kageyama along behind him, but that’s fine with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OKAY OKAY y'all win have some more magical boys  
> this is mostly just a bunch of silly scenes I wanted to write but HOPEFULLY IT IS GOOD (also i have two exams tomorrow leave me comments so i don't die pls)


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